Saudi-Canadian Face-off: Exploring the Chink in the Western Armour.

by Eze Eluchie,

A few months ago, all that was required to get any errant ‘tyrannical’ State which had supposedly flouted recognized international human rights principles back on track, was for any Western Government to express concern over such violations. Worries expressed by relatively tiny Western countries such as Luxembourg or even the Principality of Liechtenstein, was enough to send chills down the spine of Governments across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and wheresoever. The Government being targeted with such outwardly expressed concern would, at the very least, roll out mechanisms to defend or justify its positions and except with the case of perceived extreme States such as North Korea, China and a few others, strive to explain its position or

That was before Donald Trump happened.

Nowadays, the pendulum has shifted. The ideological unity that made the West a formidable global force has waned. A chink has appeared in the all-for-one-and-one-for-all armour that once served to embolden otherwise minion States to talk down on other states far removed from their immediate geographical spheres. The spectre of a unified Sword of Damocles, personified in the likelihood of economic and political sanctions and international ostracization, hanging over errant States, which had hitherto served to keep non-Western countries on edge and ‘in-check’, was no longer in existence. Countries elsewhere now feel at liberty to assert themselves in the face of ‘lectures’ on their economy, human rights and social issues. The genie was out of the bag.

Clearly, when it expressed ‘concern’ over the detention of Saudi human right activists, Samar and Rafi Bardawi, The Dominion of Canada had not factored in the new global realities – the fact that in the Trump-era, every Western State is on its own. Reliance on previous Western solidarity in addressing issues of concern in non-Western States was no longer the norm or a foregone presupposition. For each and every such moves, you either await the early morning views of the President of the United States as expressed on Twitter or risk going it all alone. This lesson, Canada is learning the hard and long way.

The robust aggressive response of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Canada’s ‘expression of concern’ was simply not anticipated. Sacking the Canadian Ambassador; stopping flights from the Saudi national carrier (Saudia) to Canada; withdrawal of Saudi citizens on scholarships to Canadian educational institutions and with any more escalatory measures set to be rolled out, the Saudi authorities appear intent to set a defining tone to interference in what it considers its domestic affairs by Western countries. The deafening silence from the European Union and EU member States and the ere advice from the White House that both Canada and Saudi authorities should handle the matter with care, has left Canada feeling terribly lonely and like an island.

The new development marks the onset of very worrisome and trying times for freedoms, activists and liberals across the globe, the protection of fundamental rights across the world is now very much in question. Tyrants will try to exploit the situation to undermine fundamental rights and the commonality of humanity. Western countries, using the instrumentality of their combined, unified and cohesive angst against infractions on human dignity and rights, anywhere in the world, had served, to a great extent, as a bulwark against the excesses of dictators and oppressive regimes.

The exchanges between Saudi Arabia and Canada will no doubt, be observed with great trepidation and concern by progressives and activists in emerging societies, and concealed joy and expectations by dictators in far-flung territories.

President Donald Trump is really changing, for the worse, the face and modus of international cooperation and relations as the world had known it.

Picture: Flags of Saudi Arabia and Canada

Petition to the UNSC. Re: Buhari at the ICC Hq. Compromising the Integrity and Impartiality of the International Criminal Court, Its Processes and Procedures

The President

United Nations Security Council

UN Plaza

New York.

Dear Sir,

Compromising the integrity and impartiality of the International Criminal Court, its processes and procedures:

Re: Petition against the invitation to and high level reception at events marking the 20^th anniversary celebrations of the Rome statute of the head of a government (Nigerian ruler, President Muhammadu Buhari) subject to active investigations and likely prosecution by the Institutions and Authorities of the ICC.

We are attorneys based in Nigeria and are very conversant with the matters over which we now petition your Office.

Sequel to the powers conferred on the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court under Article 5(1) of the Rome Statute, investigations were initiated into several atrocities within the jurisdiction of the ICC, committed by and or under the supervision and authority of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Some of the matters being investigated by the Office of The Prosecutor of the ICC (OTP) include the following:

1. The December 2015 extra-judicial mass killings and burials of over One Thousand members of the Shiite Islamic sect (under the auspices of Islamic Movement of Nigeria) by Nigerian soldiers in Zaria, Kaduna State (North central Nigeria);

2. The various torture, attacks and extra-judicial mass killings and burials of members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) by various national land regional security agencies across the Southern and Eastern regions of Nigeria.

Sequel to its active investigations into the situations in Nigeria, The OTP-ICC has communicated some of its preliminary findings which acknowledged violation of international statutes and human rights principles to the Nigerian Government, via it’s correspondences with the office of the Nigerian Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.  

The Nigerian Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has publicly acknowledged the continuing investigations by the OTP-ICC into various matters in Nigeria.

Following the ICC investigations, the peoples and groups who had suffered immeasurably from the atrocities being investigated by the OTP-ICC and the Nigerian populace in general felt assured that there would, at the very least, be some measure of international accountability for the various mass atrocities that was beginning to assume the status of societal norms in present day Nigeria. 

It was under this sense of hope that Nigerians were stunned at the announcement, barely 48 hours to the epic of events commemorating the 20^th Anniversary of the Rome Statute of the ICC, that the Nigerian ruler, Retired General Muhammadu Buhari, had been invited as a Guest Speaker to ‘The Solemn Hearing of the ICC’.

Rtd. Gen. Buhari did indeed attend and make a presentation as the Guest Speaker at the said Solemn Hearing of the ICC, in the Chamber of the ICC, the Hague, Netherlands on Tuesday, 17^th July 208

In an apparent effort to rub-in the pains of the insult (felt by the victims of mass atrocities in Nigeria under the regime of Retired General Buhari) of an invitation from the ICC to a man who the victims of the atrocities considered the arrow head of the regime which continues to inflict and perpetuate mass atrocities, Buhari’s spokesperson, Mr. Femi Adesina, issued a Press Release stating inter alia: “He is the only Head of State invited to the ICC’s 20^th anniversary and senior Nigerian officials see it as a positive recognition and appreciation of Nigeria’s support to the ideals and objectives of the Court”.

In a most outlandish deployment of the ICC invitation extended to Retired General Buhari, a Nigerian Federal Lawmaker, Abdulmuminu Jubril averred, in a widely publicized interview in Nigeria, that the invite to Buhari was in acknowledgement of Buhari’s integrity and high status. Mr. Jubril stated thus:  “Few weeks ago, the president was in ICC as part of all he has done fighting corruption in this country from when he was a young military officer till date. And when he was there, I met a senior diplomat in one of the developed countries and I asked him a question, how can Nigeria president, an African president from Nigeria is the only president in the history of the ICC that has ever been invited to make such presentation. And he said to me, he showed me about a 100-page document that was carried out, collaborative exercise by security agencies across about twenty European and the Americans..ermh, the United States of America and this is lying down on the desk of a lot of embassies and presidents all around the country. And this security exercise was done on about thirty serving and former Africa Heads of state. Only president Buhari achieved the highest indices of integrity which they called XXXX1. Only President Muhammdu Buhari achieved that. And I got that document, read that document; I was shocked, almost moved to tear”.

The expected cumulative effect of the presence of Buhari as a Guest Speaker at the 20^th anniversary Solemn Hearing of the ICC in the hallowed and revered Chambers of the ICC is two-fold:

(i)  Firstly, it destroys whatsoever hopes the immediate victims of mass atrocities perpetuated by the Buhari-led regime might have nurtured in the ICC as an international arbiter and unbiased venue to seek justice for mass atrocities and crimes against humanity.

(ii) Secondly, and perhaps more weightily, it raises the likelihood that the OTP-ICC and perhaps the Presidency and Justices of the ICC can be, or might have been, compromised by undue interaction with a subject under investigation. Other countries, particularly in the African continent, where there has been a resurgence of questions as to the likelihood of bias of the ICC and its procedures in the continent, might now feel justified, by the invite to, visit and elaborate reception accorded to the Nigerian ruler, Rtd. General Buhari, to reconsider their countries continued membership of the ICC.

The presence of Rtd. Gen. Buhari at the ICC’s 20^th anniversary commemorations and the continuing familiarity to the ICC being portrayed by Nigerian Government officials squarely come within the purview of acts cited in Articles 42(5) and 46 of the Rome Statute, requiring urgent and strict measures to restore and retain the credibility of the ICC and its processes.

Increased impunity

Resulting from the supposed ‘endorsement’ accorded the Nigerian ruler, Rtd. Gen. Buhari, by the ICC, there has been palpable increasing acts of impunity which is adversely impacting on the human right situation and Rule of Law environment in Nigeria. Of particular note is the blockade on the residences of the leadership of the Nigerian Parliament, the attempted coup against the Nigerian National Assembly and increasing spate of brutality on the civil populace by law enforcement agencies.

There is the likelihood that if immediate and expedient action is not taken to distance the ICC and its institutions from the semblance of having ‘endorsed’ the ‘integrity’ and ‘human rights’ situation in Nigeria, more atrocities will be unleashed on the peoples of Nigeria.

Request:

It is in view of the foregoing that we urge your goodself, in exercise of your implied supervisory functions entered into under Article 2 of the Rome Statute, to inquire into the mechanisms, practices and operational modalities of the ICC, with particular reference to the Presidency and Justices of the ICC, on the one hand, and the Office of The Prosecutor on the other, and their various interactions with persons, entities  and Governments subject to ICC investigations and likely prosecution by the ICC, with particular reference to their interactions with the Nigerian ruler, Rtd. Gen. Buhari.

Considering the notoriety of the Nigerian State with regards to corruption issues, the continuing and increasing interactions and familiarizations between the Nigerian Government and the Nigerian ruler (which are subject of ICC investigations) and the Presidency, Justices and Prosecutor of the ICC, objective observers will have no other choice than to conclude that the improper interactions might lead to obscuring and or obviating the cause of justice for not only the victims of mass atrocities and crimes against humanity perpetuated by the regime in Nigeria, but also directly negatively impact on the independence and erstwhile respect the ICC enjoyed internationally, and more particularly, in the African continent.

In anticipation of your expedient interventions, we remain,

Your truly,

For: Eze Eluchie & Associates

Eze Eluchie, Esq.

Attorney.

Convener, Colloquium on Genocides, War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity.

Cc:

1. The President, International Criminal Court

2. The Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court

3. Adama Dieng, Special Adviser to the Secretary General on Prevention of Genocides

3. Michael Frost, The UN Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Right Defenders

Pix: Nigerian ruler, Rtd. General Buhari with the President and Justices of the International Criminal Court, The Hague, The Netherlands, after delivering his presentation at the 20th anniversary m Hearing. 7th July 2018